The wolf pup wandered out of the shelter, shaking off the last vestiges of drowsiness as she rose from her nap. She felt hungry but shook her head realizing this was not the case. She was not hungry, but still had a craving for the cooked food the goblin had given her earlier. She had never tasted anything quite like it, the warm flesh of the rabbit melting in her mouth as she devoured the creature. Additionally, she felt a power radiating through her body after she consumed the meal.
The pup stopped and looked around. The goblin was not present in the small camp. When she fell asleep earlier, he was sitting by the fire as he finished his portion of the rabbit.
“Goblin?” she thought to herself.
How did she know what that intelligent creature was? As she pondered this new information she seemed to receive out of nowhere, she realized that there was a plethora of information going through her mind. Before her small nap earlier, all she had known was life in the wild. Her life was a constant fight between life and death, killing and consuming to survive. The only comfort had been her mother, who always protected her through their trials.
This had changed after her mother had died and she was saved by the goblin. The goblin had shown her kindness she had not seen before from anyone but her mother. After eating the delicious rabbit with him, she seemed to have had some form of enlightenment as she now knew things about the world around her that her mind had never thought of before. The tall hard things surrounding her with green at their tips were called trees. The hot orange thing that she was always terrified of before was called fire. Now the thought of it inspired warmth and memories of the rabbit.
She set out to find the goblin, pondering the impossible new information in her mind along the way.
The wolf pup quickly found the goblin’s scent and followed it up to the clearing where she lost her mother the prior night. A feeling of loss enveloped her, stronger than any emotion she had felt before as she approached the opening in the forest. She forced herself to continue forward to find the goblin.
As she emerged into the clearing, she was both confused and taken aback as she did not see the goblin, the fallen hydra, or her mother’s body. She inspected the scene. There was still no sign of the hydra, as if it had simply vanished. The scent of the goblin continued towards where her mother had lain. Surprised, it seemed like the scent of her mother and the goblin both left the clearing together. How did that small creature manage to move her mother’s majestic body?
She followed the scent and was slightly frustrated when she found it led back close to the camp. If she had known this earlier, she would not have wasted her time in going all the way to the clearing, just to come right back. She could see the disappointed look in her mother’s eye as this mistake could have cost them a meal or two just days before. Determined to not make a mistake like this in the future, she pressed on.
The canopy of the forest grew dense. It almost seemed like twilight in the forest, though the wolf pup knew it was midafternoon. Again, she questioned that knowledge. She should not know what this “midafternoon” was. Ahead of her, she noticed some rays of light making their way through the treetops to shine down on a small opening in the forest. The scent she was following pointed directly to the glade.
Cautiously, she made her way towards the glade. There was a feeling of anticipation. She did not know why, but this moment felt solemn, and she moved as quietly as she could. As she was about to make her way into the clearing, she stepped on a small stick that made a loud cracking noise. Frustrated in her ability to stay silent, she walked into the clearing, seeing the small goblin facing towards her, with a look of shock and fear on his face. Her mother’s body was lying on the ground behind him, still as it had been since her death.
***
Jake stared into the eyes of the wolf in front of him, frozen in fear. This large animal could tear him to shreds in an instant and he had a dead member of its race behind him, a clear indication of blame.
The wolf’s eyes were a vivid green, a mesmerizing shade of emerald that sparkled as bright as crystal. Even through his fear, Jake was captivated by their beauty and could not look away.
The wolf slowly moved towards him, its steely silver coat having an almost metallic sheen, like the blade of a recently sharpened sword. As it drew nearer, he noticed there was no malice in its eyes; rather, they shone with curiosity, confusion, and a trace of loss.
Realizing there was nothing to fear from this wolf, Jake had a moment of realization.
“Are you her pup?” he asked, indicating the wolf on the ground behind him. “The one who I brought back to my camp?”
The wolf cocked its head and gave Jake a slight nod.
“What happened to you?”
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The wolf just looked at Jake, seemingly confused by the question.
This beast was nothing like the small pup Jake had left to nap in his camp hours earlier. Its fur was the same, the cold silver glinting in the beams of light passing through the canopy. Its eyes, once a dark forest green, now shone with a bright emerald brilliance, bursting with intelligence as they peered at him. The greatest change was to the wolf pup’s stature. Before, it looked to be just a few months old. Now, the pup stood around three feet tall and five or six feet long. It still had some youthful features. It looked like its body still had not quite grown into its massive paws. Jake shuddered at the thought of the size of the pup at full stature considering the size of its paws.
Jake considered his situation. It made no sense for the pup to have undergone a sudden change like this. To be fair though, he had just been reincarnated as a goblin in this world. He assumed the wolf pup must have gone through some kind of level up or evolution. The wolf seemed to understand him, although it did not have the facilities to speak, rather it seemed to communicate through gestures and body language.
“My name is Jake,” he said. “Do you have a name?”
The pup was still for a moment, and tentatively shook its head.
“Would you like one?”
Again, a slight pause and a quick nod.
“Wait, are you a boy or a girl?” he asked with a laugh, realizing he couldn’t name the young animal without that information. He held out his hands. “You can choose my right hand if you’re a boy. Left if you’re a girl.”
The wolf reached out with a paw and tapped his left hand.
Jake thought for some time about the wolf’s name. A few options ran through his mind. The first few he quickly discounted. Luna seemed a fitting choice, with her silver coat and their fated meeting the night before. However, he couldn’t bring himself to choose that name, recalling two or three people he knew in his previous life had huskies all named Luna. This pup deserved a less basic name. His second thought was Emerald. He soon dismissed this name as well as Jake thought it was too on the nose with her bright emerald green eyes. After much deliberation, the pup sitting contentedly in front of him, Jake decided.
“Astra,” Jake said, looking into the wolf’s bright green eyes. “What do you think? Do you like that?”
She thought for a moment, met Jake’s gaze, and nodded. Her eyes glinted. It seemed like she was happy with her new name.
Jake felt a connection with her, as if their paths had become aligned. He moved closer to the pup and gave her a scratch behind her ears.
Astra seemed content for a moment, enjoying her name and the attention from Jake. Her eyes hardened again as she remembered her dead mother in the clearing behind him.
He noticed her gaze.
“In my culture, we bury our deceased loved ones. I don’t know what wolves generally do, but we can bury her to show respect for her life.” Jake explained.
The sorrow and anger on Astra’s face pained Jake, but she nodded curtly. She immediately pushed past Jake and her mother’s body, and with her increased strength and size, she began to dig.
Astra made short work of the grave, pouring all her rage and grief into the task. Soon the hole in the ground was massive, more than enough to bury the huge wolf. She looked at her mother on the ground, and then at Jake.
Jake gave her an approving nod, impressed at the speed that she was able to dig the grave. He was planning to do it himself, in a show of respect for the wolf’s great battle the night before. He earlier thought the pup was too young and weak to help or understand, but whatever transformation she had gone through completely changed that. He felt it was fitting Astra would be the one to bury her mother, as he had only seen the wolf in its final moments of battle, and Astra had been with her mother her whole life.
Astra nuzzled up to her mother’s face in a final goodbye. With an almost indiscernible whimper, she slowly pushed the massive wolf into the grave in front of her.
A single tear ran down Jake’s face and he walked up to the despondent wolf pup and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Astra stared down at her mother’s twisted body in the grave she dug. A sprinkle of dirt fell onto the body from somewhere to her right. She looked up to see Jake smiling softly at her, releasing another small handful of soil to fall on her mother’s body. She had to be strong. With a final resolute glance at her mother, she began swiftly filling the grave with the dirt piled nearby.
Now early evening, Jake walked silently back to his camp, Astra slowly following behind. The distraught pup lay down next to the fire. Jake decided to check his trap again. He was hungry after the events of the day and was sure Astra was after the effort she put forward in mournfully digging her mother’s grave.
He found another of the unusual rabbit creatures in his trap. They must be a pretty common animal in this area, he mused. Jake followed the spring back to his camp and the large pup’s head popped up in excitement as it saw the rabbit he was carrying.
Jake once again cleaned the rabbit, and slowly cooked it over the open flame with the spit roast he had constructed earlier. He silently thanked the rabbit for its sacrifice for their nourishment.
He split the rabbit into two even portions and gave one to Astra. The wolf pup ferociously tore into the rabbit, devouring it with a primal glee. Jake chuckled; it seemed that even this intelligent transformation could not take all the wild instincts from his new animal companion.
Jake slowly ate his portion of the rabbit, enjoying the juicy meat. He wished he had something to drink. It was getting annoying to walk up and drink directly from the spring when he needed water. He decided to work on a cup or a small bucket after he finished his dinner.
The small stump was beginning to resemble the bucket shape Jake had envisioned. With the bark removed, his sharp knife made substantial progress carving out the interior.
Text materialized, dominating Jake’s field of vision, accompanied by a voice catching him off guard.
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New Title: Beast Tamer – Wild beast tamed; familiar bond formed.
Familiar:
* Direwolf
* Female
* Evolved Common Grey Wolf
* Name: Astra
* Category: Zero
* Level: 15
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Jake stared at the relaxing wolf pup, mouth agape, as the implications of the interface’s message ran through his mind. The truth behind the bond he felt earlier left him speechless, yearning to learn more.